


The Path with You in It

by DatLAG



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Dancing, First Kiss, Fluff, It's just pure fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Canon, Short & Sweet, Yosuke busting some moves, internet comments, pure fluff, slight jealousy, the decision isn't that important but I can't write summaries, yoosk being the fluffy heart-warming bastard that we all love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 10:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19944424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatLAG/pseuds/DatLAG
Summary: After the Love Meets Bonds Festival, Yosuke discovers his succes and is proposed a path in the idol industry, buuuuut...





	The Path with You in It

**Author's Note:**

> I don't often write from Yoosk POV, but here we are ! It took a very different direction than I thought : )  
> Although the decision part less important that it looks, I can't really explain I suck at making summaries.

On his day off, Yosuke found himself hanging out in Okina city. Yu was here for the rest of summer vacation, but he wanted to spend time with his family today. Why not ? It's not like they could hang out _all the time_ , he _wanted to_ sure, but everyone has their turns, and their leader has the right to do anything he wants.

And they were planning to go to college together. They'll have all the time in the world to hang out.

And just spending some time relaxing alone is nice too. Going to the music shop, getting some coffee, playing at the arcade, _man_ it's bringing back old memories. But which one first ? He wanted to distract himself, so to the arcade he goes.

As soon as he entered he realized it was _packed_. Almost all of the machines are taken, aside from a dancing game. It immediately reminded him of the Festival, it's been a while since then ( _weeks ? A month maybe ?_ ), but he'll admit, busting some moves feels _great._ And he was pretty confident in his dancing skills.

At a time he would be embarrassed to dance in public, but he danced on a _scene_ and even for _Shadows_ , stage fright has been killed.

God the LMB Festival was fun. Ridiculous, but so much fun. Next time Rise asks him to help for a Festival he's coming right away.

He made his way to the machine, glancing at some other games to maybe try one of them later, stretched himself for a bit to get himself into the mood, and turned on the game.

There is a lot of songs he thought, but he recognized most of them. After looking for a bit, he noticed they were some from the Festival ! Everytime he would see one he would think something along the lines : _Hey Kanji danced to this one ! That's Yukiko's ! Hey it's Yu's ! I love that one !_

After some searching, he actually found one of his. _Nice !_

He chose the normal difficulty. And placed himself correctly on the panel. Those dancing games used motion sensors and cameras to recognize the mouvements, and showed on the screen the choregraphy. He prayed it was the same he did.

He recognized the first steps, yep that's his song alright. No way he would forget it after rehearsing it so many times.

The beat of the start of the song somehow really lifted up his humor, and he was soon fully into it. He didn't even payed that much attention to the screen, it's _his_ song, he knew it more than enough.

When the refrain hit, he mumbled the lyrics with the song. _Your Affection... Your Affection... God I love that part !_

When the slow part came in, he took the occasion to breathe a bit. He didn't have his TV World stamina anymore, but he sure tried his best to keep it by using actual _normal_ methods. Yu told him once that he was good looking, he kinda doubted that coming from Mr Popular, which he told him afterwards, but his partner reassured him that he meant it.

He tried his best to still focus on the game and not let his embarrassement get in the way of his score.

The song was over a bit too soon, and he took a deep breath, and stretched his legs. He looked at his score... _Holy crap, high-score !_ He high-fived himself in his brain. He wanted to enter it on the machine, _Humm what to use..._ _Hey I know !_ He had a brilliant idea, _J, I, R, R, A, Y, A_. He typed it in. But he wanted to go for one more round. How about trying it again on the max difficulty ? _Brrring it !_

He changed the difficulty setting and tried again. _Your Affection... Your Affection... God, I LOVE that part !_

When it was over he was sweating all over, he'll take a drink afterwards, and he looked at the scores, new high-score again. He made a tiny victory motion, before realizing he's not in the TV world and he actually started to feel embarrassed. He entered the score again with “Jiraya” as a pseudonym. He should come back here again, this was a nice change of pace ! He let out another deep breath with a smile, satisfied.

“Hum, excuse me...” He heard behind him.

He turned around to see a teenager, around his age or maybe a bit older. He assumed it must be to try the machine, he's been on here for 2 songs after all.

\- “Oh, sorry you can have it, I just finished.

\- No, that's not what I meant...” The boy rubbed his hand behind his neck. “Are you... Hum, the guy that was at the Love Meets Bonds Festival...? Hanamura-kun ?” Yosuke was a bit taken aback, did he recognize him ?

\- “Huh, yeah I was on stage.

\- O-oh wow, I watched it and I saw you and I was wondering and- hum...” He seemed really embarrassed.

\- “Calm down, I'm not gonna bite you. Relax !” He said with a smile to reasure the stranger.

\- Y-yeah, can I... have your autograph please ?” The brunette was definitely surprised, when he said he should start working on his autograph that one time he was joking !

\- “Hu- Sure ! Do you have something to write with ?”

The stranger, shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper with a pencil. It looked like a grocery list. He turned the paper over to the blank side, and handed the pencil and paper to Yosuke.

“For who do I sign ?” He remembered Rise doing exclusively personnalised autograph, and it would make the guy happy probably.

\- “R-Ryo.” Yosuke wrote his name and has wrote his own with a little shuriken motif around the “O”, similar to Jiraya's, and a smile inside the “E”, all of it stylized Made In Yosuke and underlined.

\- “Here you go !” He handed the stuff back to its owner. The guy's face lit up when he saw it

\- “Thank you ! C-can I take a picture ?

\- Oh, sure.” He kinda started to feel like a star- _No ! Bad Yosuke ! Don't let it get to your head !_

They took a selfie and The Magician made V signs with his hands and his trade-in smile.

The guy thanked him and waved-goodbye, he visibly had somewhere to go and didn't know how to end the conversation, he was awkward, but Yosuke knew how that felt.

He tried real hard to not get an inflated ego after that, but he was grinning like an idiot on the way out.

And he felt an iresistible effort to boast about it. Prefarably to someone emotional to get a kick out of their reaction. He put out his phone and dialed.

“Chie, you won't _BELIEVE_ what just happened !”

* * *

After extolling about his dancing skills and the recent event to a Chie in denial during his coffee break and his journey back on the train ( _yes Chie it happened I know even the guy's name stop denying the truth, foolish steak addict !_ ), he made his way home and breathed on his bed for a bit. Teddie was still at work so he could take a long, _long_ break...

He hesitated if he should call Yu, he should be with his family today, should he really call ? Maybe they were in the middle of something. _Oh what the hell,_ if he was interrupting something Yu could just tell him and he'll call later.

He called him and after around 5 seconds, his partner picked up.

“Hello, Yosuke ?

\- Hi dude ! Am I interrupting something right now ?

\- No it's fine, Nanako's taking a nap, she's tired after playing so much.

\- Oh, Ok. Dude, you won't believe what just happened to me !

\- What happened ?

\- So I was at the arcade, busting some moves on the dancing game-

\- You play those things ? You should have told me.

\- Of course I do ! Where do you think I got those sweet moves ?

\- Sorry. I assumed you were the fighting game type.

\- Well I _do_ love fighting games, we should play sometime by the way.

\- We'll do a dance off.

\- _Oh yeah !_ That would be _so_ awesome ! B-but I'm getting off track here ! So I was playing, and after I finished, a guy came up to me and recognized me from the LMB Festival ! He asked for my autograph and we even took a picture ! He was reallly awkward.”

Yu didn't respond for a while.

“Huh, bro ?

\- Oh sorry. Really ?

\- Don't be like Chie... I _swear_ it happened ! But she won't hear me out !

\- … You told it to Chie ?

\- Well, I called her afterwards , I wanted to hear her reaction ! But like I said, Stubborn Chie is Stubborn Chie.” Yu didn't respond for a while again. “Dude ?

\- Sorry I got distracted again.

\- Damn, I can't belive this ! We have fans ! _**I**_ have fans ! Does that mean there is stuff about us on the LMB site ?

\- Well we _are_ special guests, there should be something about us on there.

\- Well, the guy did call me by name.

\- … By name ?

\- My family name. I guess our names are up there. God I'm curious, I'm gonna go check it out !

\- Ok, I'll check it out myself when I'll have the time.

\- Well see ya partner !

\- See you later.”

Yosuke hung up with a huge smile on his face. _Man_ , a dance off with Yu promise to be so cool ! He remember their duo on “Backside of the TV” and “Dance!”, that stuff got everyone hype ! Also what was up with those long silence ? _Oh well_ it's Yu, he was probably doing something like the army of origami cranes in his room (they even have names and voices like _what_ ), usual Yu-Weirdness. Which is not a bad thing, he likes that weird.

Having just realized what he thought, he rubbed his face with his hands. _Oh man..._

He wanted to think about something else, he placed his laptop on his lap and sat comfortably on his bed, back to the wall.

He searched the site, wasn't hard to find. Which reminded him of the whole midnight stage with the hanted video. He shivered. _Curse you midnight channel._ There was a “guest” part to the site. In big lines was obviously the big faces, Kanamin Kitchen (oh he should tell the story to Kanamin !), Rise (oh her too), a shitton of other idol groups (he recognized almost them all), but near the end their was a “special guest” category, he clicked, and there they were ! There was even that super embarrassing interview... There was also their dance video from when they were on stage ! He put the page in his favorites so he could watch the videos of everyone.

And here was the commennt section... There was actually a tiny diagram showing if more guys or girls liked the video. He decided to pick individual videos for everyone. Starting with the girls.

There was **a lot** on Rise and Kanami, to be expected, things like : “So cute !” “So glad Rise's back !” _blablabla_ usual idol stuff.

Yukiko was praised for her elegance and beauty by both guys and girls, totally understandable : “She's goergous :))” “so beautifull im jalous” “its like a traditional japanese dance its so elegant”, usual stuff for Yukiko, among, huh, other more _specific_ stuff. He's gonna skip those those...

Chie seemed to be liked for her tomboyish appeal, once again, both guys and girls : “manlier than a dude !” “those kicks damn” “it gets me pumped” “shes so pretty”, Yosuke wouldn't call her “pretty” but she's not bad. Again skipping the raunchy stuff...

Naoto, surprinsgly, seemed to have a lot of girl fans, and was liked for her smooth moves : “it put you in transe” “it has this mysterious air wow” “i'm a girl but I feel so weird watching this” (he snorted _hard_ at this one), again, a lot of... _Girly raunchy stuff (???)_

Now the guys :

Teddie was liked by the girls, that wasn't expected : “how can he move in that suit ?” “it looks so fun ! : ) ” “im feeling like a kid again”, it's true that Teddie gives you that vibe. Until you know him and his... “Tendencies”. There wasn't a lot of weird stuff on him. _Good._

Kanji was liked by the guys for his manliness : “damn he looks strong !” “its so powerfull !” “is he improvising ?” (oh he got found out) “hes so free with it” “MAN POWER MAX” (more like girl power), let's not talk about the weird stuff he really doesn't want to know.

Now Yu, as usual, loved by everyone : “he looks so cool” (he is) “damn he's smooth” (he is) “so handsome <3” (he is. Even as a fellow man he has to admit it.) “damn those eyes” (yeah sometimes it's like he's staring into the depth of your soul) “never thought a bowl-cut could look this good” ( _I know right ?_ ) “damn he's so swag” ( _I know right ?_ ) “he's super hot wtf” ( _I know ri_ \- _OK_ _ **WE'RE STOPPING RIGHT THERE**_ ), he was _really_ tempted to look into the “stuff”, but no that would be rude to him.

And now his part... He was _really scared_. God what are they gonna say ? Well here goes.

First, he was liked by... Both ? It was a tied match between girls and guys. And here he thought the girls would win... And now the comment section...

He took a breath and braced himself :

“how can he be so pretty ?” “those moves!” “he's so cute <3” “hes so bubly” “he looks so good” “the way he moves is crazy !” “its so up lifting”

He stopped looking to hide his blush. Thoughts in disarray.

Again, he was really, _really_ tempted to look at the “other stuff”...

Well, he is the man in question, might as well go down on a high note.

He really wasn't prepared :

“I swear to god i'm straight but damn hes lookin hot” “i think I just turned gay” “if only I had legs like that...“ “i'm not gay, but ill let him take me anytime” “good lord those HIPS” “god when he winked I lost it” “hes better than any chick I know” “he looks so hot in that outfit” “how can one be so cute and sexy at the same time ????”

He closed the laptop in a hurry. And hid himself in his pillow. He needed to register the fact that actual people said that. That _girls_ said that. And that _**guys**_ said that.

* * *

After a few hours of registration and embarrassement, he received a call from Rise.

“Hi Rise, what's up ?

\- Well, hear this, I just received a call from my manager. He said he wants to talk to you.

\- Huh ? For what ?

\- You know when you guys helped me out ? Well a lot of people want some of you back. And that a lot of people seemed to like your performance.

\- He-he wants me to do idol stuff !?

\- He wants to take some photos and an interview apparently, be close to your phone maybe he's going to call you.

\- Oh hum. Ok...

\- Come on, don't be so stressed ! You did great last time ! It's gonna be fine ok ? See you !

\- Y-yeah. See you.”

* * *

The manager did call him, they talked for a while, he specifically said that he could have a spot in the idol industry.

He could become famous. He could become a celebrity. He could have tons of fans. He could become rich and become one of the big names if he took this path. He could have the attention he knows he likes so much.

What he lived at the arcade could become the routine. People would recognize him and remember him, he could become “special” to so many people.

But he would lose the chance to be with Yu everyday. To build his live along side his.

And to be honest, being special to his partner was way more important than being special to some random strangers.

So he refused, saying he wants to go to college.

BUT, if it's just some photos and an interview, he was fine with it. But they'll stay at that. And maybe getting a few jobs could be good, always say yes to connections, you never know.

The interview was in two days. Obviously, Yu caught whim of it, and they talked about it on the phone.

“Yosuke, are you... Going into the industry ?

\- What !? No ! I told you I want to go into college !

\- Listen... This could be a good opportunity. You should consider it.

\- Don't talk like my mom, and no, _I want to go into college with you._ ”

Yu was silent.

“Hello ? What is up with that ?

\- Yosuke... You could become a star if you wanted to.

\- What are you-

\- Let me finish. Do you really want to let that pass... Just to go in collge ? With me...?

\- Yep. And you're not going to change my mind.”

Another silence.

“Yuuuuu ?

\- Sorry I was just... Taken aback...

\- Don't worry it's- _oh man_ I just realized what I just said... Oh man that's _embarrassing_...

\- Hum... Yosuke ?

\- Yeah ?

\- There is something... We need to talk about.” Those words would put instant dread in any man.

\- O-oh god what did I do !?

\- No it's not you. It's just, if you want to pass this chance for m- well to go into college with me...

There is something... You need to know.”

The way he said those words made the brunette shiver.

\- “Is- is it bad ?

\- I... Don't think so ? You'll decide for yourself, I guess.

\- So what is it ?

\- … I can't say it now.

\- Huh ?

\- I want to say it to you face to face.

\- Oh w-wow” He felt butterflies in his stomach. _Calm Yosuke. Calm._ “Must be really important...

\- Yeah. At least it is for me.

\- When do you want to meet up ?

\- Tomorrow on the hill... At 10 AM.

\- This early !? And why on the hill ?

\- … I just want to.” He was taken aback by that. It's usually Yosuke who picks their hang out spots.

\- Sure. I'll see you tomorrow.

\- See you.”

He hid in his bed to calm the feelings wrestling in his guts.

* * *

He decided to go in advance to the spot. This place brought back so many memories. How he hated it at first, how he grew to like it... That, huh, embarrassing moment... Just thinking about it maked him flush. _Man how did I find the strength to say that back then !?_

Once on top, he saw Yu resting on the wooden face looking in the distance. God he was already getting embarrassed.

“Hi dude...” Yu turned to look at him.

\- Hi Yosuke.” He made his way up next to him, in the same spot than last time.

\- “S-so, what did you want to talk about ?” Yu looked away for a second.

\- … “How do I say this...?

\- I-is it about how you get so quiet on the phone ?” The Fool looked at him again. “I mean you're not exactly the talking type but... You're weirdly _real_ quiet those times around ! You're like “oh i'm distracted sorry” is there something bothering you ?

\- Well, let's say that. Remember when you told me a fan talked to you ? And that you told Chie before me ?

\- Yeah, why...?

\- I was... a bit jealous.” Yosuke stared wide-eyed at him.

\- _YOU !? JEALOUS !?_ No way. What do you have to be jalous of ?” Yu started to look away again.

\- “Well... That's the thing... I wanted to tell you something for a _very_ long time... But I was scared of what would happen to us if I told you. And when you told me you gave up on the oppurtunity you had just to stay with me... I felt like you _had_ the right to now. I can't keep such a big secret from you when you're willing to sacrifice such a big opportunity for me.

\- Then... What is it ? Wait ! I just want to say something.

\- What is it...?” Yosuke took a deep breath.

\- My gut tells me this gonna be a big sucker punch in the guts. So just know that whatever you're gonna say, we're going to stay buds, Ok ?”

Yosuke tried to sound as reassuring as possible, but the silver-head teen looked away.

\- “Well, that's the thing...

\- What's the-” _Oh no. Oh_ _ **nononononono-**_ “Don't tell me... You don't want to be my partner anymore...?” he could already feel the tears coming up. Yu instantly raised his voice and looked at him in... panic ?

\- _**What !?**_ **NO !!** How could I _**possibly**_ think that !?” The brunette was so relieved.

\- _Oh-oh good_ I was so scared you secretly hated me or something..!” The Leader lost his look of panic and brought his hand to his face, hiding his mouth and squeezing his cheeks. _Wait is he blushing !?_

\- Well actually... It's the _reverse_...

\- Reverse ? What do you mean ?” Yu looked at him in... plea.. _???_ And he kept looking away and back. “Dude what happened to you ? You're not yourself man !

\- … You're so oblivious.

\- Hey ! What does that mean ?

\- That means you're too blind to realise what I'm trying to say.

\- I didn't ask for a definition ! Just- let's take it from the top Ok ?

\- Ok.”

The both of them took a deep breath and regained composure.

“Yosuke.

\- Yes partner ?

\- The secret I want to reveal to you is-” He took another breath, Yosuke braced himself for impact. “I... like you.”

Yosuke stared wide-eyed.

\- “Well duh, I hope you do I'm your best friend !”

Yu facepalmed. _Wait did I made him facepalm ? What did I do !?_

\- “Let me rephrase that.” He cleared his throat, he was blushing again. “”I like you” as in, _I like you_ **romantically.** ”

_Wait what_

In his internal panic, he managed to squeal out :

\- Wait it's not just me !?”

It took him a second to realize what he just said.

“Oh huuuuh yeah I never told you I you know kinda do too and huuuuuh wow I never thought you would ever return my feelings like I mean _me_ how would anyone like _me_ you're out of my league so I kiiiinda hid my feelings under the rug so I would forget about it but I guess it didn't go away I mean I _really_ like you too and-”

He didn't finish his sentence since the Fool was already kissing him, shutting him up. One hand of his cheek the other in his hair, gently pulling him in.

\- “Calm down. Ok ?”He breathed on his lips, when he pulled away.

\- “huh ok”

And they were back into kissing.

Well it was Yu doing all the work, he could feel him smile into it.

Well, he liked him back so he guessed kissing is a good plan for now.

* * *

The interview went well, some pictures were taken, they said if he ever wanted to join the industry the door was always open. Maybe if he doesn't find a job.

When he got out of the building, his partner was waiting for him outside.

“Of course...

\- So ? How did it went ?

\- “Our door is always open” they said. So I think it went well. Maybe I'll take on some tiny jobs as backup dancers to make some money.

\- I would like to see that.

\- Of course you do.”

They both started to make their way to the station.

\- “Say Yosuke.

\- Yep ?

\- Do you remember during LMB, when we paired on “Dance!” ?

\- Oh yeah ! That was cool !

\- Do you remember what you did ?

\- Huh dance ?

\- No, when you left the stage.

\- No sorry ?” Yu placed two fingers on his lips.

\- You blew me a kiss.” Yosuke looked in front of him, before looking back at his partner (now b-boyfriend, _I'm not going to get used to this don't I ?_ ) flushed and flustered.

\- “I-I did that !?

\- You did. Twice.

\- OH MY-” He hid his face in his hand. “I never realized...”

\- It's okay. I'm sure it's on the video.

\- … Video ?

\- On the site.

\- … Are you telling me there is a video of me blowing you a kiss on the internet ?

\- I guess. And don't worry. I can't watch that part without seeing how much I was screaming on the inside and trying to not screw up afterwards. So we're both a mess here.

\- I hoped it just passed as the choregraphy...

\- I don't think my extra uptight expression would pass as choregraphy. Also, I read the comments about you." Oh crap he remembered those.

\- And...?" Yu wore a grin.

\- I agree with your fans : "He's so adorable", "Those legs tho", "how can one be so cute and sexy at the same time ?"" Oh he recognized that last one. He punched Yu in the shoulder.

\- Oh shut up ! Anyway, we'll watch the video at my place. Also, how about we do that promised Dance off ?

\- You're on.

\- Hope you don't get swooned by my smooth moves too fast !

\- I can't if I already am !”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if I didn't deliver what was promised but I hoped you like it ! To write the fan comments I inspired myself with actual Youtube comments.  
> I hope you enjoyed whatever this is !


End file.
